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09 April 2011 By Stephen
Lendman On April 4, New York Times writer
Charlie Savage headlined, "In a Reversal, Military
Trials for 9/11 Cases," saying: After months of indecision, the
Obama administration "will prosecute Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed (KSM) and four other (suspects) accused of
plotting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks before a
military commission and not a civilian court, as it
once planned." In fact, candidate Obama
pledged: "As president, I will close
Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and
adhere to the Geneva Conventions...." On January 22, 2009, he signed an
Executive Order (EO) to close Guantanamo in one year. More promises made. More broken.
Obama's record is near-perfect showing nothing he says
can be believed. On April 4, Attorney General
Holder broke the news, saying: "In November 2009, I announced
that (KSM) and four other individuals would stand
trial in federal court for their roles in the" 9/11
attacks....After consulting with prosecutors from the
Department of Justice and Department of Defense and
after thoroughly studying the case, it became clear to
me that the best venue (was) federal court. I stand by
that decision." Not at all as months of inaction
gave "Members of Congress" time to "intervene and
impose restrictions blocking the administration from
bringing any Guantanamo detainees to trial in the
United States, regardless of the venue." "(T)hose restrictions are
unlikely to be repealed in the immediate future. And
we simply cannot allow a trial to be delayed any
longer....We must bring the conspirators to justice." On April 4, a Department of
Justice press released headlined, "Justice Department
Refers Five Accused 9/11 Plotters to Military
Commissions," saying: "As the indictment unsealed today
reveals, we were prepared to bring a powerful case
against the 9/11 defendants in federal court, and had
this case proceeded as planned, I'm confident our
justice system would have" prevailed. A 10 count, 80 page indictment
accuses them of: -- "conspiracy to commit acts of
terrorism transcending national boundaries; -- acts of terrorism transcending
national boundaries; -- conspiracy to commit violent
acts and destroy aircraft; -- violence on and destruction of
aircraft; -- conspiracy to commit aircraft
piracy; -- aircraft piracy; -- murder of US officers and
employees; -- destruction of property by
means of fire and explosives; and -- conspiracy to kill
Americans." Charged were Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed (KSM), Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash, Ramzi
bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed
al-Hawsawi. Commenting on Holder's
announcement, ACLU Director Anthony Romero said, "The
attorney general's flip-flop is devastating for the
rule of law." In response to Holder's
announcement, an ACLU press release said: "In a move that undermines civil
liberties and the rule of law, the Obama
administration today announced that it will prosecute
the (9/11) suspects....in the Guantanamo military
commissions system." Executive Director Anthony Romero
added: Using military commissions "is
completely wrong. There is a reason this system is
condemned: it is rife with constitutional and
procedural problems and undermines the fundamental
values that have made us a model throughout the world
for centuries....The attorney general's flip-flop is
devastating for the rule of law. (These trials) will
not be seen as legitimate. This is not justice." Moreover, alleged evidence
against the suspects was obtained under torture, ruled
constitutionally inadmissible by the Supreme Count in
Brown v. Mississippi (February 1936), saying: "The rack and torture chamber may
not be substituted for the witness stand." It cited an earlier Fisher v.
State (November 1926) High Court decision, stating: "Coercing the supposed state's
criminals into confessions and using such confessions
so coerced from them in trials has been the curse of
all countries. It was the chief iniquity, the crowing
infamy of the Star Chamber (the notorious 15 - 17th
century English court), and the Inquisition, and other
similar institutions. The Constitution recognized the
evils that lay behind these practices and prohibited
them in this country wherever the court is clearly
satisfied such violations exist, (and) it will refuse
to sanction such violations and will apply the
corrective." In other words, confessions and
alleged evidence obtained under torture are
unreliable, suspect, and inadmissible in court. In
addition, according to Mark Denebeaux and other Seton
Hall University Law Professors, unclassified evidence
obtained through FOIA requests revealed evidentiary
summaries from 2004 military hearings on whether 517
Guantanamo detainees were enemy combatants. They
showed that: -- at most, few Afghan Guantanamo
prisoners committed violent acts; -- 95% were seized by bounty
hunters paid $5,000 per claimed Taliban and $25,000
for alleged Al Qaeda members; and -- 20 were children, some as
young as 13, but all were brutally tortured as later
revealed. Serious questions thus remain
regarding the claimed guilt of these suspects,
including the alleged mastermind, Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed. He had: -- no lawyer; -- was isolated at black sites
for over two years, including the secret "Dark Prison"
near Kabul International Airport, infamous for its
absolute lack of light combined with brutalizing
torture; -- another north of Kabul called
the "Salt Pit," where in 2002, a detainee was stripped
naked and left chained to the floor in freezing
temperatures until he died; -- while in Afghanistan, Mohammed
was hog-tied, stripped naked, hooded, and abused
repeatedly in numerous ways, including being: -- kept in a prolonged state of
sensory deprivation for months; -- waterboarded numerous times; -- chained naked to a metal ring
in his cell in a painful crouch in intense heat and
extreme cold; -- bombarded with deafening
sounds round the clock for weeks; -- thrown against walls
forcefully, a procedure called walling; -- suspended from the ceiling by
his arms so his toes barely touched the ground; -- beaten with electric cables; -- given electric shocks; and -- forced to endure a variety of
stress positions for extended periods, causing
excruciating pain until; -- in 2006, he was sent to
Guantanamo where his torture continued, included being
waterboarded over 183 times. The other four suspects
received similar treatment. An ICRC report said high-level Al
Qaeda prisoners were repeatedly tortured, especially
Mohammed for his alleged mastermind role. To extract a
confession, he was told: "We're not going to kill you.
But we're going to take you to the brink of your death
and back." As a result, whether he and the
others plotted 9/11 must seriously be questioned given
that international law is clear and unequivocal.
Torture is prohibited at all times, under all
circumstances, with no allowed exceptions. Evidence so
obtained is unreliable and inadmissible as explained
above. Yet, it will be used, making a proper defense
impossible, especially from court-appointed lawyers,
picked to give prosecutors an open field to convict. In federal court, however,
confessions obtained under torture are inadmissible.
Yet, according to the Military Commissions Act (MCA),
evidence obtained through coercion is allowed. As a
result, 9/11 suspects face potential execution without
appeal if convicted which is virtually certain. MCA, in fact, grants sweeping
police state powers, including that "no court,
justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or
consider any claim or cause for action
whatsoever....relating to the prosecution, trial, or
judgment of a military commission (including)
challenges to the lawfulness of (its) procedures...." MCA scraped habeas protection for
domestic and foreign state enemies, citizens and
non-citizens alike, saying: "Any person is
punishable....who....aids, abets, counsels, commands,
or procures," and in so doing helps a foreign enemy,
provide "material support" to alleged terrorist
groups, engages in spying, or commits other offenses
previously handled in civil courts. No evidence is
needed. Those charged are guilty by accusation. Other key provisions include: -- denying international law
protection; -- letting the president convene
"military commissions" at his discretion to try anyone
he designates an "unprivileged enemy belligerent,"
detaining them indefinitely in secret; -- denying speedy trials or any
at all; -- letting hearsay and secret
evidence be used; and -- denying due process,
destroying human dignity, mocking the rule of law, and
establishing the principle of kangaroo court justice
for anyone the executive targets with or without
evidence. In other words, the rule of law
is null and void. Whatever the president says goes. No
one any longer is safe. Obama is as lawless as Bush.
America is a police state, making everyone potentially
vulnerable. Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
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